Families in a picturesque conservation village fear they are facing the prospect of two wind farms being developed near their peaceful rural community. People in Longhirst near Morpeth say they are horrified at the possibility of 15 giant turbines - each measuring 130 metres from base to blade tip - going up on nearby farmland. ..."A lot of people will be going to the public exhibitions, but I guess the majority will be absolutely horrified that we are faced with two wind farms and possibly 15 giant turbines.

The fight to stop a wind farm coming to our area is gathering strength, after a key meeting in Ironstone Road on Monday night. Around 160 people piled through the doors of the Ironstone Road scout hut on June 30 to air their views on the contentious issue, which would see a cluster of 250ft wind turbines erected on the Bleakhouse site, between Burntwood and Heath Hayes. And a poll among those 160 people showed that just four were in favour of the wind farm application ...

The local authority warned stunning views of the Minster and St Mary's Church would be obscured - especially from the Westwood - if 12 huge turbines were allowed to be built at the village of Routh. A public inquiry into the controversial plans by RidgeWind Ltd to site the 100m-high turbines at Hall Farm began at the council offices in Skirlaugh yesterday. Megan Thomas, representing the council, maintains the visual impact would be significant and provides grounds for refusal.

People living in Earthcott Green protested over plans for the wind farm, off Old Gloucester Road, at Alveston Parish Council's planning meeting last night. They told parish councillors, who were discussing Stroud-based power firm Ecotricity's planning application to South Gloucestershire Council for the first time, that the wind turbines were "totally inappropriate" for the village.

Campaigners fighting plans to build five wind turbines almost as tall as Blackpool Tower in South Yorkshire have launched a protest group and won backing from a local MP. The group will oppose a planning application for five turbines - which would be Britain's biggest-ever at 410ft high each - at Sheephouse Heights, by the side of the Stocksbridge Bypass. ..."The addition of turbines would be visible from miles away and we believe, would have a drastically adverse impact on the visual amenity and landscape value of the area. "I believe they are so huge most people have difficulty imagining just how high and intrusive they will be.

Earlier this year, the council decided to seek a full judicial review against the Secretary of State's decision to grant planning permission for a 66-megawatt wind farm at Fullabrook Down. The decision followed a Public Inquiry held between November 2006 and January 2007. During the Inquiry, the council argued strongly that the impact the development would have on the local landscape, the lives of those living in the area, the attractiveness of the area to visitors and local tourism far outweighed any benefits. It is challenging the Secretary of State's decision on landscape, noise and policy grounds.

The view from some windows in Boston could soon look very different. If you face towards Baumber, near Horncastle, you could be among thousands of people who will have sight of all eight turbines proposed in a controversial wind farm scheme, if it gets the go-ahead. A new survey shows almost everyone living in a 30km radius to the north, west and south of the site - including Boston, Sleaford, and Lincoln - would see the turbines unless another building or trees near their homes happened to impede the view. ..."The turbines are huge. The diameter of the blades is wider than a Jumbo's wings and they are nearly as high as the pillars of the Humber Bridge."

Campaigners fighting plans to build a massive wind turbine on the edge of Northampton have won a temporary reprieve. Supermarket giant Asda has applied to build a 417ft turbine in the car park of its distribution centre in Brackmills. ... But people living in nearby Great Houghton have argued the structure, which would be the same height as the Express Lift Tower, would be a blot on the landscape. And last night, their campaign was given a boost when a public footpath, which the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC) had been unaware of, was discovered close to the proposed turbine site.

It is a rare lunar spectacle whose significance dates back to ancient times, drawing visitors to the Isle of Lewis from across the world. But now the druids, pagans and witches who gather at the Callanish Stones fear the next time they visit their treasured view of the Moon could be ruined by a 53-turbine wind farm. ...Beinn Mhor Power plans to build turbines on the Eisgein Estate in Lewis, some of them on the Old Woman of the Moors. One would be built on a lump that looks like her knee, and others would be on the skyline. Archeologist Ian McHardy said the lunar phenomenon is mentioned in the Historic Scotland guidebook for the area. "I think it's an integral part of Callanish and should have been afforded higher protection. The wind turbines would be a significant part of the view."

Campaigners hoping to quash controversial plans for the region's first wind farm to be created between Burntwood and Heath Hayes have joined forces. Members of the newly formed Bleak House Wind Farm Action Group (BWFAG) said they want to use strength in numbers to make sure the proposed development on the former Bleak House opencast mining site does not go ahead. ..."We've all pulled together now to form one group - it's power in numbers. It was too much for one person to do to try and take this application on," Mr Baker added.

Controversial plans for a wind turbine on a dramatic Peak District hilltop have been refused permission by the National Park Authority. The National Trust wanted to erect the 12 metre structure to generate electricity for White Edge Lodge holiday cottage on the Longshaw Estate, on the hillside above Grindleford. The National Park's planning committee had recommended an exception be made to its policy of protecting special landscapes from visual intrusion, because of its environmental benefits. But the full authority did not agree, and neither did objectors including the Ramblers Association and Grindleford Parish Council.

A couple who have been forced out of their home by wind turbine noise have found out their house is unsaleable. Jane and Julian Davis moved out of their Deeping St Nicholas home in Christmas 2006 after months of sleepless nights due to what they believe is noise and vibration from wind turbines, which are around 900m from their property. They have long believed it has no value, and their fears have now been proved justified, after estate agents Munton and Russell refused to market the property at Grays Farm.

Villagers fighting plans for a wind farm on the outskirts of Teesside have called on the area's civil and military airports to back their campaign. They are urging Durham Tees Valley Airport and RAF Leeming to object to the proposed 11 turbines in Bishopton near Stockton and Darlington on the grounds of air traffic safety. "If the turbines mean there is radar or air traffic interference, then surely lives are being put at risk," said action group spokesman Peter Wood. ...An MoD spokesman said: "All applications are assessed on a site by site basis." Similar air traffic safety concerns have been raised regarding potential plans for a wind farm of five turbines between the villages of Hilton and Seamer.

"I like the idea of green energy," he says. "I just don't want it on our doorsteps." Residents of the tiny village of Routh objected when they discovered land behind their 26 homes was being earmarked for a wind farm. East Riding Council refused the application, but developers RidgeWind have appealed to the Planning Inspectorate, with further developments expected in the near future. And with E.ON proposing an offshore development off the East Yorkshire coast, the issue of wind farms is set to remain on the agenda. The Routh reaction is identical to those seen in other communities when onshore wind farms are mooted.

It's wild, it's out there and it matters to almost everybody, even if they hardly ever see it. Scotland's remote and untamed mountains, moors and glens have been given overwhelming backing in a major new poll for the conservation agency, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). Over 90% of people interviewed said they thought it important for Scotland to have wild places. Of the 1304 who were questioned, only six suggested wild land was not important. More than 60% of Scottish residents said that action was needed to protect wild areas from being damaged by modern buildings, bulldozed tracks, mobile phone masts, electricity pylons or wind turbines. About 50% thought that wild places were under threat.

Weeks after plans to locate Europe's biggest wind farm on Lewis were refused, a public inquiry opened on the island yesterday into another controversial wind farm proposal. Opponents are concerned it would set the prehistoric Callanish standing stones in an industrial landscape. ..."Over 20,000 people travelled to see the Callanish last year. The setting is as much part of the experience for visitors as the stones themselves. It is ludicrous that the government would even entertain the idea of marching turbines across such a world-class landscape."

Opposition is growing today against plans to turn one of the largest wind farms in the UK into one of the tallest. ScottishPower Renewables and Eurus Energy want to treble the output of "clean, green energy" at Llandinam in Mid Wales and to replace 103 45-metre (149ft) tall turbines with 42, 122-metre (400ft) machines. When it was opened in 1992, Llandinam was one of the largest wind farms in Europe.

An ombudsman is demanding council bosses pay to take down overhead power lines they allowed to be erected in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Tynedale Council has been accused of "maladministration" by the Local Government Ombudsman after it failed to prevent the erection of 1,600 metres of overhead power line, with 12 electricity poles, close to Ninebanks, in the Tyne Valley. The council claims it could have done nothing to stop the cables being put up but is facing a further rap for refusing to remedy the "injustice".

The company behind the controversial East Stoke wind farm has cut its number of proposed turbines by a third. Infinergy, which wanted to build six 125-metre turbines at Masters Pit, Puddletown Road, now plans just four for the site. Project bosses say this downsize is a response to residents' concerns, an explanation that has been rubbished by wind farm opponents. Dorset Against Rural Turbines (Dart) president Terry Stewart said: "The main reason we are against these proposals, and we are still very much against them, is the visual impact they will have in an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Ramblers have condemned a decision by Peak District bosses to approve a wind turbine on National Trust land. The Derbyshire Ramblers' Association say the decision to allow the turbine on White Edge on the Park's eastern moors is "astonishing" and would seriously detract from the character of the landscape. Officers had recommended the application should be refused because it wouldn't fit in with the landscape - but councillors felt the demand for renewable energy was just too important. ..."It is even more astonishing that the Park's Planning Committee should vote for the application to be approved. We would describe it as a betrayal of all the National Park is intended to stand for."